#047 LUCKY ME! Supreme Sotanghon Instant Vermicelli Soup
Lucky me! that I have good friends that feed my noodle obsession. When I peruse the noodle isle, I am usually drawn to the Japanese and Korean noodles first and end up with a basket full before I even get to anything else. Fortunately for me I get all kinds of interesting noodles that I wouldn’t otherwise come upon if it weren’t for me peeps. This being one of them. I got a whole shlew of Filipino brand noodles for my birthday last year. The portion size is very snack appropriate. Included with the individually wrapped bean thread noodles were a packet of seasoning, packet of oil, dehydrated carrots and chicken bits. Well, all the ingredients went in the bowl along with hot water from my Zojirushi water dispenser, covered the bowl up and the wait began. I was pretty content with how the noodles came out, they were chewy and a little on the gelatinous side – perfect! The soup is a simple soup with a strong flavors of onion and carrots. The star was really the noodles though and wish the soup had more of a unique Filipino flavor.
#046 SUNLEE Tom Yum Shrimp Flavour
I was craving something savory, sour and fast! I was hungry and knew this Tom Yum flavor would hit the spot. I peeled back the lid to find 1 seasoning packet, 1 flavoured oil packet and a small convenient plastic fork. Fun! All the seasoning went into the bowl and 1 quick push from my nifty Zojirushi hot water dispenser and I was set. The noodles were thin but were soft and springy in texture. I accidentally left the noodles covered for a little too long so that’s why the noodles were on the softer side. The tom yum flavor was on the milder side which wasn’t exactly a bad thing. Overall, this was a nice snack.
#045 RICE CHOICE Instant Bean Thread Beef Flavor Mien Bo
I’ve noticed more of a variety of Vietnamese instant noodles popping up. However, they are hard to find. These were given to me by a friend, otherwise, I’ve never seen these in the Asian grocery stores. Most of the Vietnamese noodle dishes are made with rice noodles as it’s used more often in their dishes. I was surprised by all the ingredients and fork that they were able to cram in this tiny cup. The soup had a distinct beef flavor. I think I tasted a hint of basil also but overall, the soup was too salty. I could have done without the oil packet or just added less too. As you can see, the portion size of these noodles are very small and barely enough to make a decent meal. I would not buy these for myself.
#040 NISSIN UFO Big
After my first failure attempt in making the regular UFO noodles, I think I’ve officially redeemed myself this go around. The portion size of these noodles are indeed BIG! It was a little hard to finish towards the end. When I peeled off the outer plastic wrapper, there were cooking instructions on the lid…in Japanese of course…but….dun dun dun….there were pictures! So no excuses for effen up this time. I’m not sure why I find it so much fun when there are extra steps in the cooking process. I call it faux cooking….no long prep time, no messy clean up and you get instant satisfaction. So after the noodles cooked in the package, there is a nifty spout on the opposite corner of the package where you can pour the water out without sacrificing a single noodle. Genius. Then, the entire lid comes off, pour the liquid yakisoba sauce, mix and top it all off with the garnish packet. I really liked how easy it was to mix the noodles up and was able to coat everything with that one little packet. Oh! Almost forgot about the dehydrated cabbage and bits of chicken underneath all the noodles. You’ll find them after mixing everything up. The texture of the noodles are fantastic…soft and spongy and absorbed the perfect amount of sauce. Nissin UFO noodles rock.